Fishmonger
A fishmonger sold raw fish and seafood to the public from a shop or market stall, and cleaned and filleted it for customers.
Fishmongers could be wholesalers or retailers and were skilled at choosing, gutting, boning and filleting fish. In London the fishmongers formed one of the earliest guilds, chartered under Edward I, and the sale of fish was tightly controlled to keep it fresh.
Historically a woman in the trade was called a fishwife. The word is chiefly British.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1860 to 1910 census
Mrs. Kate Noonan, 44, Fishmonger, Ireland
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Fishmonger." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/fishmonger. Last checked 2026-10-10.